You aint seen nothin' yet

Google's augmented reality Project Glass provides a peek into Google's ambitions with artificial intelligence and how AI software could furthermore shake up mobile computing.

The most part

For the most part, the augmented reality glasses did what a person could do with a smart phone, just as look up information and socialize. However the demo as well showed glimpses of an artificial intelligence system working behind the scenes. It's the AI system which could make mobile devices, including wearable computers, far more powerful and take on more complex tasks, according to an expert.

"The new thing that Google was showing was the interaction model using new hardware, in other words than really showing the potential of such a device," said Lars Hard, the chief research officer of AI software company Expertmaker. "AI can in fact enhance and improve different decision situations."

The Project Glass hardware

The Project Glass hardware was operated primarily by voice commands, an indicator of Google's work on voice recognition for mobile devices like Apple's Siri. Siri, which has been then received, translates spoken commands into actions for theiPhone, just as looking up information or making appointments. Google is reportedly working on voice-recognition software for Android.

The makers of Project Glass said the hardware is designed to help "you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment," according to a Google Plus post. "We think research should work for you--to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don't," said Babak Parviz, Steve Lee, and Sebastian Thrun, three employees from Google's secretive Google X Labs, on the post introducing Project Glass.

In one scene of the video, for instance, the wearer takes a picture of a poster by pressing a button on the glasses and sends it to himself. This new type of user interaction is quicker than, say, pulling a phone or camera out a pocket.

"This puts Google out in front of Apple; they are a long ways ahead at this stage, Michael Liebhold, a senior researcher specializing in wearable computing at the Institute for the Future told the New York Times. "Just in case to having a superstar team of scientists who specialize in wearable, they as well have the needed data components, including Google Maps."

Having wearable screens could help doctors make diagnoses, be used in business negotiations, or in service industries, just as retail, Hard said. Though an augmented reality screen is smaller than a smart phone, it has the potential to present the "right information by design" and show complex data just as diagrams, he said.

Another Project Glass contributor, Babak Parviz, is a bionanotechnology expert at the University of Washington who foresees wearable devices used for medical diagnostics. In 2009, he wrote an essay at IEEE Spectrum describing how augmented reality contact lenses could be equipped with biosensors to detect and communicate information on blood sugar levels from eye fluids.

The enthusiastic reception of Project Glass

Judging from the enthusiastic reception of Project Glass, wearing augmented reality glasses may become the ultimate fashion statement for innovation fans in the nearly future.

Apple's Siri has given millions of people their first taste of the artificial intelligence concept where a digital personal assistant does a few tasks and provides an alternate interface to touch or typing. Now with Google's Project Glass we get a hint of the potential of bringing that AI to a wearable device.

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